CAREER: Contextual gating of information flow in large-scale brain network models

Faced with an ever-changing environment of rich and complex stimuli, the brain needs to flexibly adapt to changes in the outside world to efficiently process relevant information. This project studies how the brain selectively processes relevant information depending on task demands and coordinates across different brain regions to support flexible behavior.

This project will develop a comprehensive framework to analyze information flow in large-scale brain network models. Research findings will be incorporated into coursework to expose undergraduate students to cutting edge research. Regular outreach activities, such as summer camps and in-class visits to local middle and high schools, will be conducted to inspire K-12 students' interests in interdisciplinary research.

The investigator will actively recruit students from under-represented or disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in computational neuroscience research.

The goal of this project is to develop new analytical tools to disentangle information flow across brain regions to understand how sensory information can be flexibly routed in a highly inter-connected brain. The project will integrate existing datasets of large-scale neural activity recordings and anatomical connectivity to provide a mechanistic understanding of communications between brain regions.

Complementary approaches, such as spiking neuron network models with biological details, information-theoretic analysis and parameter optimization methods, will be used to accomplish three aims. The first aim compares alternative mechanisms of selective attention in detailed spiking neural network models and tests model predictions with existing datasets.

The second aim develops analytical tools to dissect information pathways in multi-population network models. The third aim fits multi-regional models, constrained by connectome data, to widefield calcium activity from mouse cortex under different behavioral contexts. The education components include curriculum development, undergraduate and graduate students research training, summer camps for high school students and regular in-class visits to local middle and high schools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.